Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

A window reflects an image of Fidel Castro in a working-class Havana neighborhood few tourists see.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Dog owners prep at Havana’s Champion of Champions show. Such flourishes of discretionary spending, a new option for Cubans with the right kind of currency, are a source of both pride and consternation.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

The century-old stone wall of the Malecón, Havana’s famous oceanside esplanade, shields the city—imperfectly—from the battering of roiling seas. On calmer nights people come out to stroll on the street.

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Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Markers of a richly Cuban outing at Havana’s Parque Lenin: the clicking of dominoes, the head-to-toe white clothing of a Santería adherent, and a Russian sedan likely kept running with transplanted parts.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

A passenger rides shotgun in a Havana taxi—not the kind used by tourists, but one of the geriatric American cars that carry only Cubans, who pay a fraction of the tourist fare.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Shoppers wait in line at a central Havana market. Poor management and decades of a U.S. embargo have crippled Cuba’s agriculture. The country imports most of its food.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

In a government office in Viñales a receptionist labors under a portrait of retired leader Fidel Castro and a sign proclaiming that work must be orderly, disciplined, and demanding.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Movies, music, and TV shows are popular merchandise for Cuba’s burgeoning private entrepreneurs. Discreet customer queries can sometimes unearth DVDs too racy—or politically inflammatory—for display.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

For the first time in decades Cubans are allowed to buy and sell houses and apartments. Makeshift ads, fluttering from tree trunks, have turned Havana’s Parque del Prado into an open-air real estate bazaar.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Hunting down groceries in poorly stocked markets, like this butcher shop in central Havana, is a daily challenge. Cubans receive ration books that secure staples like rice, beans, and oil at low prices. But it’s not enough to live on.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Men prepare pigs for roasting on a street in Havana. “I wake up thinking about how I’m going to get food” is a line heard frequently to describe the daily quest to put dinner on the table.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Graffiti near Havana’s harbor reads: “The lion is wounded but not defeated. Long Live CDR.” Committees for the Defense of the Revolution is a neighborhood watch and community organization.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

A young woman walks on her knees as penance during a religious pilgrimage to the shrine of El Rincón in Santiago de las Vegas. Thousands of believers gather for a December 17 procession on the Santería holiday for St. Lazarus.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

A plume of fireworks surrounds a reveler at the Parrandas, a December festival in the colonial town of Remedios, near Cuba’s north coast. Two barrios compete to stage the most impressive display.

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Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Until the 1959 ouster of dictator Fulgencio Batista, Cuba’s legislature convened in the domed Capitolio building in Havana. Today it’s a symbol of a prerevolutionary Cuba that no one under the age of 50 experienced.

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

Cockfighting is a longstanding tradition that survived the revolution and thrives in rural settings. This young Cuban cradles a contestant in the province of Pinar del Río.